State-Line Big Band to make debut in Kittery

Seacoast musician and composer Chris Klaxton and the State-Line Big Band will have their debut performance tonight at The Dance Hall in Kittery, Maine. The Herald caught up with Klaxton to find out what's behind this new endeavor and get the skinny on the show.

Seacoast musician and composer Chris Klaxton and the State-Line Big Band will have their debut performance tonight at The Dance Hall in Kittery, Maine. The Herald caught up with Klaxton to find out what's behind this new endeavor and get the skinny on the show.

HERALD: State-Line Big Band ... Tell me about what you're cooking up. What's the scope? How big is big? Who all is involved?

KLAXTON: There are several fine big bands in the area: Dave Seiler's Seacoast Big Band, featuring many of my former teachers/friends — this band inspired me from the age of 11 or 12 and continues to do so; The Portland Jazz Orchestra; and Chris Humphrey's Big Band. All these bands feature fine players, original compositions, and perform from the canon of jazz orchestra classics. These bands have very consistent personnel, and in some cases their longevity has assisted with carving out a niche for themselves.

I find myself surrounded constantly with fine instrumentalists and, as of the past several years, there is a plethora of fantastic musicians that can all improvise, all read music extremely well, can play in a very traditional way and are open to all forms of new/popular music. Most of these musicians are under 30 and newer to the scene, without an outlet for large ensemble music. Knowing the musicianship and personalities in the band as I do, it seemed a perfect opportunity to put something of this sort together. I feel our collective sound/interests could yield a band capable of performing not only from the classic repertoire (these guys can swing hard!), but could also allow us to pursue original music, music from outside the jazz idiom, and eventually occupy a space in the community that is unique to us, our generation and our interests.

HERALD: What got you interested in the big band sound and in composing this type of music for public consumption?

KLAXTON: I learned to play trumpet in middle school big band. I learned to love jazz and improvising through participating in a big band. Ken Clark and Tony Dibartolomeo (my grade school music teachers) took the jazz tradition so seriously. They placed such focus on authenticity and approaching the music in a disciplined and professional way that, for guys like me, it was the big band culture that helped me grow up a lot. High school big band brought us to jazz festivals, allowed us to hear the likes of Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Ray Brown, Branford Marsalis, and eventually led me to pursue music in college at UNH where big band was a big part of it.

At UNH, I formed a relationship with Clark Terry and traveled with him off and on for a few years as his travel manager/valet. Learning about the history directly from someone who was there — a founding father — got me only deeper down the rabbit hole. Clark is overflowing with stories, quotes, anecdotes, lessons — about performing with Duke Ellington for years — things that came right out of Duke's mouth!

I was also privileged to play in an immensely talented big band during my time in Miami. Here I was able to reconnect with the disciplines of playing in a big band, perform music that was stylistically all over the place, and back up some A list performers: Chris Potter, Dave Douglas, Ignacio Berroa, Wycliffe Gordon, Brian Lynch, Terence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater...

Starting this band was for me a way to dangle a composition carrot in front of me and eventually crank out some original music. Our bass player Rob Gerry is an accomplished composer and has some big band works ready to go.

HERALD: Tell me a bit about the tradition you're celebrating, and how you plan to push said tradition(s) forward. How to you add a "hip" factor to big band music and make it relevant for a younger demographic without alienating folks that grew up longing for this type of music?

KLAXTON: Like myself, most members of the band were raised with a lot of experience with and a love of the classic big band literature (Count Basie, Duke, Woody Herman, etc.) I came in to a vast collection of big band music digital files and we plan to always rehearse and perform them.

The big band has always been a palette with which to explore popular music. What are the big band classics? They're radio/Broadway/songbook hits from that time period. I would like our band to eventually perform more arrangements of the songs we grew up on and love today. Although there are bands doing this, I think our area could really use one. Imagine a big band jazz concert where you get to hear some Duke, Basie, maybe some St. Vincent or Tribe Called Quest. How would a big band render a Nirvana tune without being campy? I have a lot of work ahead of me, but a very open-ended time frame and a lot of cooks in the kitchen to explore with.

One of the most exciting ideas we have had as a band is that of a "regional house band" concept. We aim to approach particular venues on the Seacoast and propose that we, the big band, provide our services to back up higher profile musicians and perform their music, with them as visiting guest performer/conductor. My experience in this department has taught me that no musician is unreachable, most are quite willing, and many of my favorite performers/writers today don't often have the chance to perform their big band works. Getting a group together of this size is difficult. And finding a band that can read, rehearse, improvise and do so quickly with only a rehearsal or two is relatively rare and a makes the guest artist experience all the more fruitful.

HERALD: You've got your first gig coming up at the Dance Hall in Kittery. What can folks expect? What are you looking for a listener to take with them when they experience this music?

KLAXTON: Our gig at the dance hall will feature a first set of various big band music. A Rob Gerry original, some Mingus, some Ellington, Thad Jones, Basie, etc. A lot of improvising, and music moving in many directions.

The second set will be standard dance band repertoire and we will invite all swing dancers in the area to come out and cut it up with us!

HERALD: What is the collective weight of this big band?

KLAXTON: About 3,000 pounds. I'd say almost 3,500 with instruments. If we include the piano ... Heavy.